1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to display devices and more particularly to a shelf for a display device designed to hold modular merchandise units such as packet boxes and to provide a gravity feed for the product so that when a box is removed, the next box will slide down for access by a consumer.
2. The Prior Art
At the present time there are a large variety of known display devices in which articles of merchandise are loaded at one side of the device and move by gravity along a downward course to a forward or dispensing position at the opposite side of the device. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,744,489 to Binder et al. ; U.S. Pat. No. 3,404,927 to Mellion; U.S. Pat. No. 3,900,112 to Azzi et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 1,317,534 to Williams; U.S. Pat. No. 1,711,329 to Short; U.S. Pat. No. 2,649,207 to Shield; U.S. Pat. No. 3,019,907 to Belejack; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,939 to Beeler et al.
The Binder et al. has two straight parallel courses and has a nonrefill aspect that stops the product in the upper course from being introduced into the lower course for dispensing until the lower course is fully emptied.
The Mellion patent shows a battery dispenser in which the cylindrical batteries descend in a zig-zag pattern to a dispensing station at the forward-most end of the rack.
Batteries and other objects are often packaged in modular merchandise units such as packet boxes, called “MODS” or “PDQs”, which have a substantially flat base. Such modular units when loaded on display devices which use a straight gravity-fed course have several disadvantages. If the angle of the incline is too steep, the modular units can tilt forward and rotate, so that the base of the merchandise unit is no longer in contact with the floor of the course. Such rotation results in the product not being presented correctly at the dispensing end of the display device. For example, the front of the unit intended for display to the customer may be flipped over at the dispensing location so that the wrong side of the package is visible to the consumer.
More typically, displays that use a straight gravity-fed course have a more moderate incline, for example between 17° and 22° or 24° relative to the horizontal. However, with such displays there is often insufficient pressure acting on the last unit loaded in the display that one or more of the units fail to advance to the correct presentation position at the dispensing location of the display.
Some display devices have a relatively flat dispensing location which is fed by a straight inclined ramp. These devices also have the disadvantage that the modular unit frequently gets stuck in the display device. For example, the unit may be prevented from moving forward by the unit ahead of it at the rear end of the dispensing location.
Hence, there is still a need for a shelf for a display device which can accommodate modular merchandise units such as packet boxes so that the units descend by gravity from the loading end of the shelf and be presented at the correct display angle at the dispensing end of the shelf.